86 WH1 restomod

[Mike E]

Thanks for the compliment. Ive been working out of town all week, so nothing has been done on the car. My wilwood brakes finally came in and i hope to get them on and get the front end finished this weekend.

 

[Mike E]

Front brakes are done. I went with a wilwood vented front kit with 11" rotors. They come in pieces, so I had to assemble them. Hopefully I'll have the money to order the rear brakes this week. Then I can start welding the rearend together.
Some safety wiring

The finished rotors

On the car

With a wheel

 

[Mike E]

The alumastar wheel on the front is borrowed from a friend. I was thinking about using them, but the rears won't work and alumastars aren't reccomended for the street (although they are more than strong enough). I kinda wanted to use Billet specialties street lights, but my brakes won't fit inside them. I had a lot of time this week to search the net for wheels and I saw these new wheels from Weld. The price is right (about half what an alumastar costs), they are fine for street driving and they look awesome.

Weld RT-S

The rears will be 15x10's with 4.5" backspacing and look just like the ones in this picture

The fronts will look like these

 

[Mike E]

Last weekend I buttoned up the front suspension and made some lug nuts.
Instead of the standard lugs, I made aluminum spacers to locate the wheel and used arp 1/2"-20 12pt. nuts. It's just as strong as the standard lug nuts, but much lighter. I also think it looks cleaner. I've got temporary spacers between the wheel and hub, but with those out the studs are flush with the end of the nuts.

This weekend I'm working on the rearend. I had the center section sand blasted. I cut the axle tubes to length, faced the ends and cleaned the mill scale off of them.

This morning I beat them into the rearend housing with a 2lb. sledgehammer. My ears will be ringing for a while.

 

[BandAid]

A true craftsman...great work

 

[Mike E]

A true craftsman...great work

Thanks for the compliment.


I've been waiting for my wilwood rear brakes for two weeks now so progress is a little held up until they come in. I spent a few hours today cutting out my backbrace, drain plug and vent for the rearend.

As soon as the brakes come in, I can mock it all up and check for length before burning it all together.

 

[Mike E]

I made some trans cooler fittings today for fun. They are -6 to 1/4" NPSM. The NPSM (straight pipe thread) is not real common so the fittings are a little expensive. They can be bought from ATI, but it was a good excuse to cut some threads on the lathe so why not make my own.

 

[Mike E]

I got the reareand welded up yesterday and put a few more finishing touches on it today. Now I have to fab the upper and lower control arm mounts and machine some adjustable spring perches.

I can't claim all welds, my friend did about half the welding.

 

[forcefed3.8's]

WOW!!! I lost track of this thread. I read it when you first posted. This is some major fab work. Nice work. This is going to be one sweet TR!

 

[sundevil602]

Awesome work Mike! I'll be getting stationed over in Millington in the next 3-6 months, so I'll have to hit you up when I get out there.

 

[Fast4Ward]

making his own custom lug nuts and fittings...i'm beyond blown away. can't wait for the finish

 

[TexasT]

Well, upon reading and seeing you have MAD skillz! At least that's what my kids say and you my friend have them. The welding and machining are ridiculous and I mean that in a very good way. Keep up the inspiration.

 

[Mike E]

Thanks for the compliment.

I'm hoping to start posting some more updates soon. I've been waiting on my rear wheels for over a month from Weld and I can't finish the rearend until then. I did get some alumastar 2.0 fronts for the car and glass bumpers and fillers are on order. I have all the parts to make it a roller, now I just need the time to work on it.

 

[Mike E]

Finally got my wheels in. After I get the drag radials mounted this weekend, I can finish the work on the rearend.

 

[Dash65]

Really nice work Mike. I wish I had a 10th of your skills! Your creativity and craftsmanship is inspiring...please keep posting pics and narrative on your progress.

 

[Mike E]

Back to working on my car. I got some 275/60 hoosiers mounted on my wheels and fit them under the car. I have to narrow the rear another 1/4" on each side. One step forward, two steps back.

I also got everything measured up and drew the rear in autocad so I can start making brackets.

 

[Mike E]

I've finally got back to working on my own car. Getting the rear finished is priority #1 right now.

After I got the tires mounted and realized the rear was 1/4" too wide on each side so I had to cut it down a little more. Now I'm working on control arm brackets and adjustable spring perches.
rearend narrowed and housing ends fully welded

Lower control arm mounts done.

I decided to go ahead and put a rack and pinion in the car. TRZ shortened flaming river rack.

I've also been gathering a few parts for the motor. The longblock is just spare junk for mockup so I can finish the headers and intercooler plumbing.

 

[The_Six]

Mike,
Looking good I promise Ill try to leave you alone for a while so you can get some stuff done.

 

[Mike E]

Mike,
Looking good I promise Ill try to leave you alone for a while so you can get some stuff done.

If you leave me alone, I won't make any extra money. Then I won't be able to buy parts to put on the car. :biggrin: It's a balance between the two.

 

[The_Six]

I took some pics of your handy work this week I neeed to start a build thread to show them off. or just update my web site.